See below for video, and a partial transcript, from this morning’s “Virginia Right to Contraception Act” roll-out press conference. The key point is that contraceptive rights are now VERY MUCH under threat – from MAGA Republicans, Project 2025, Donald Trump, etc. – which is why we need to protect them at the state level, including right here in Virginia. Last year, the General Assembly passed Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s and Del. Cia Price’s “Right to Contraception Act,” but for absolutely no good reason, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed that legislation. So now, Youngkin will be given another opportunity to show where he stands, while Republican members of the General Assembly – including the delegates, all of whom are up for election this year – have a chance to tell voters (the vast majority of whom support guaranteed contraceptive access) where THEY stand on this issue!
Sen. Ghazala Hashmi: “Donald Trump said on the campaign trail last year that he was quote unquote looking at restrictions on contraception, while also suggesting that those restrictions would be left up to the states. He’s made similar pronouncements in his first term in office. And those pronouncements led to the disastrous Dobbs decision. I think we need to take him at his word. As unbelievable as it might seem, the right to contraception is under attack in this country. And we need to respond with serious efforts, because the quality of life and essential medical care for so many Virginians are all on the line. So today we’re sending a clear message that no matter what action we see from Donald Trump and his Supreme Court, Virginia will remain a beacon of reproductive freedom. And that’s why we must enshrine protections in our state code. Virginians deserve to rest easy knowing that even if this extremist court overturns Griswald v Connecticut, their access to FDA-approved contraceptions such as condoms, IUDs and Plan B will not go away. So last year we got the Right to Contraception Act passed through both the House and the Senate with a couple of of Republican votes as well, but then we were hit by a big roadblock, and that roadblock was Governor Glenn Youngkin – his veto signaled to us that he doesn’t care about the rights nor the critical medical concerns of Virginians. He vetoed the legislation even after we elevated and demonstrated statewide support through a press tour that included stops in Charlottesville, Harrisonburg and in Richmond. He vetoed the legislation even after we elevated and demonstrated statewide support by personally hand delivering thousands of signatures on petitions from Virginians calling on Governor Youngkin to sign the bill. So it’s clear that this administration is badly out of touch with regular Virginians. But that is not going to deter Democrats from doing what our constituents are calling on us to do, and that is to protect their rights and their freedoms. Our strategy is the same – continue to build public support and pressure to show Governor Youngkin that he cannot side with the most extreme wing of of his party on an issue that the strong majority of voters, both Democrats and Republicans, support. We can and we must protect Virginians’ right to contraception. We’re giving Governor Youngkin one more chance to join us to protect the rights that Virginians already enjoy, rather than to concede those rights in direct contradiction to what our constituents are asking for.”
Del. Cia Price (D-HD85): “Thank you for joining us this morning as Senator Hashmi and I announced the official reintroduction of the Virginia Right to Contraception Act to codify the right for Virginia to access contraception that they need. In 2024 across the country, voters resoundingly said yes to safeguarding their access to reproductive health care. In fact, in seven out of 10 states, ballot measures protecting this access passed and it
would have been eight if Florida worked off of a more fair majority rule versus their required 60% for passage. And let’s be clear, the only reason these ballot measures were even needed is because MAGA Republicans overturned Roe v Wade and sent the country into chaos as states passed some of the most restrictive bills ever impacting access to reproductive health care. As women across the nation grapple with the fallout from being treated as political footballs by these Republicans, we have to act to protect the rights we still have. And if we can’t trust the current composition of Congress to protect Virginians’ access to contraception, we must act at the state level. As was stated, last year the House and Senate passed these bills to codify the right to contraception for all Virginians and sent the bills to the governor’s desk. All he had to do was sign them and people’s rights would already be protected by now. But unfortunately, he ultimately vetoed the Right to Contraception Act. Tthis year, we are back with the same proposal. But a few things have changed since last January, like the increase in threats to contraception on
the federal level, the increase in number of people who need contraception so they can decide if and when to have a family, and an increase in the number of people who need access to contraception in order to deal with a multitude of health conditions. That’s why we’re here again, calling on the governor to this time side with the overwhelming majority of Virginia voters who want to see their right to contraception enshrined into law. These bills will get back to the the governor’s desk and he can use the power of his pen to sign them and protect people’s rights to use condoms, Plan B birth control pills and IUDs. Or he can use the power of his pen to remind Virginians the extremes to which some will go to control women’s bodies. So whether you need birth control pills to wait until the right time to have a child, or you need an IUD to treat symptoms of PCOS, or a myriad of other very personal and intimate reasons why people want and need contraception, delegates, senators and the governor will have another chance to show you once again where they stand on protecting your right to contraception.”
Jamie Lockhart from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia: “Everyone deserves the opportunity to plan for their future. They deserve to decide whether or not to grow a family. They deserve the opportunity to manage the pain and sympoms of chronic diseases such as endometriosis and PCOS. But right now, right-wing extremists want to take that opportunity away from you and me. Right after graduating from high school, I found myself in a situation where I needed emergency contraception. Thankfully, I was able to access the emergency contraceptive I needed through Planned Parenthood. Like many of the thousands of patients who come to Virginia Planned Parenthood health centers, I wanted to know all the contraceptive options that were available to me when I was in that moment of panic. Today, so many Planned Parenthood patients come for this critical reliable medical information and feel comfortable doing so because they know their right to contraception is currently protected. But that right, as Senator Hashmi and Delegate price and Kenda have all spoken about, is now under real threat. In a few weeks, the man responsible for the fall of Roe v Wade will be sworn in for a second presidential term. He will serve alongside anti- reproductive freedom majorities in Congress and on the Supreme Court. And Donald Trump was clear on the campaign trail that he was interested in restricting access to contraception. For years, anti-abortion politicians have tried to gaslight us into believing they were not coming for Roe, but they did. And now they are eyeing the right to contraception…state governments could be the deciding factor on whether or not there is a protected right to contraception. And for Virginia Republicans who just last year tried to ban abortion, it wouldn’t surprise any if they tried to ban contraceptives too. Thankfully, reproductive freedom champion Senator Ghazala Hashmi and Delegate Cia Price are teaming up once again to ensure we can all plan our futures. The Virginia right to contraception act will get through the General Assembly this year, and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia are ready to once again hold Governor Youngkin and his administration accountable if he chooses to veto the measure once again.”
Sen. Hashmi: “If we take a look back at what Governor Youngkin said last year, he really threw up some red herrings about the
legislation. He indicated that he would not sign the bill because it imposed on religious freedoms of medical providers to provide contraception. And that’s simply not the case. This bill actually protects our medical providers, protects them from any kind of state actor that would seek to impose or limit the responsibility that medical providers have to care for their patients. And so when we protect what medical providers are already doing, this is something that we would enshrine in the Virginia code, despite what might happen at the national level. So these are medical responsibilities that are already exercised by our physicians and other medical provider communities, and this would protect them from any action that may may occur as a result of Supreme Court action against Griswald. So that is a red herring. And we strongly oppose what the governor was arguing last year. The bill has not changed. We didn’t see any need to change the bill; it was a very strong and effective piece of legislation last year, it passed with bipartisan support. It certainly has strong bipartisan support all across the Commonwealth. And we want to send the message to Governor Youngkin that he has one more chance to do the right thing and protect critical care, and certainly do so before we see any damaging federal actions occur.”
Del. Price: “I want us to remember that several of the governor’s veto statements served more as his value statements than actual
reactions to the actual bill. And so we already have other laws that govern paternal rights and parent rights. And we are looking to make sure that all Virginians have access that they and their medical providers say they need. And so our bills did not change current law on who can access contraception and how, but that the state nor localities can impede that access. And I just want to remind us too that last year the focus may have been on the national level, on potential personal ambitions or alliances, but we are presenting the bill saying let’s focus on Virginians. And if he wants to do that he’ll sign these bills.”
Sen. Hashmi: “Well I will share that um as we were uh discussing the legislation last year many of my Republican colleagues expressed privately their support for the legislation; they saw critical need for it and they were certainly told by individuals in their own family – their wives their daughters, their friends who said that this is a a critical legislation that protects essential medical care. And they wanted to support the legislation. They were told by the administration to tow the party line. But I’m hoping that after reflecting on what happened last year with the veto and certainly after taking stock of what the incoming Trump Administration is planning to do and has already declared it will do, that our Republican colleagues join us in expressing to the governor how strongly they feel that we need to protect the rights of Virginians and that this is a bill that absolutely moves us in the right direction. So I think we need even more strong bipartisan support to move the needle in the governor’s mind.”
Del. Price: “And on the House side of course you know that this is an election year and um sometimes folks won’t hide behind others they will have to look out for themselves and they have to go before the voter and say what they believe in and so I think uh there are some hard conversations that Republicans are going to have to have on the house side side uh with the governor and we
are just hoping that they will choose to center the voices that have been saying over and over that they would like to have their rights protected.”
Del. Price: “Will people decide that they are willing to put people over party people decide that they are willing to uh Center the voices of their constituents that need these rights protected that is what we will see in the coming days.”
Sen. Hashmi: “One thing we’ve seen consistently from the ex extreme rightwing is that there’s been a effort to conflate reproductive and contraceptive health care with abortion.
And what this bill clearly does is protect the rights to
contraception that millions of Americans and Virginians already enjoy and assume our protected rights. And so we are not introducing anything that is new or different. We are seeking to
protect and enshrine the rights that millions of Americans enjoy, that frankly millions of individuals across the developed world enjoy. And this is not something that should be seen as challenging in any way. I would hope that legislation like
this would pass on the uncontested calendar, showing full support of everyone in the General Assembly, because it is protecting rights protecting rights that so many of our constituents have asked for. And it is not challenging to uh vote yes on this legislation.”
Del. Price: “I think our votes tell the people what it is we stand for, who we stand for and who we’re fighting for and working on behalf. And so I think our votes are fair game [for political ads], because that’s the record that we are creating as incumbents going into this [election]. And I think the story needs to be told
and needs to be told very clearly who is working on behalf of people and who is not. And so this is one part of reproductive freedom and reproductive justice, but it is a very important part. And so I do think that you’ll hear more about this on the campaign trail.”
Del. Price: “I don’t think this is the time for Comfort um honestly I think every single woman that desires contraception needs to be wide awake and knowing that it is coming under fire. Just like
Janette has spoken with her story, I too have PCOS. I cannot sleep until I know that people like us, people that want to decide when and if to have a family, know that they will have the current access that they have today in the coming months, years and generations. And so I cannot offer any comfort until we get this done and until these rights are enshrined. And so if there’s anyone out there that is concerned and wanting to do the work that it’s going to take for us to get these rights enshrined in our code, we we ask that you tap in tap in to the work and reach out to your own legislators and let them know where you stand on this issue so that we can create that that public story that reflects that this is something that needs to happen and it’s something
that the governor needs to sign.
Sen. Hashmi: And I’ll just add, as Delegate Price just shared, we’re not really just talking only about contraception, we’re talking about critical medical care. And as millions of women who rely on access to these pills, these medications, these devices can testify, for so many of us this is what helps us make life bearable in certain circumstances. So many hours of work productivity are
lost every month for women who experience excruciating pain, who experience heavy menstrual cycles that incapacitate them and require that they stay at home because they simply can’t go to work or can’t go to school given the situation that they’re facing. And so having medication of this sort is essential for
millions and millions of Americans. And even minors use
contraceptive medications to manage the pain and get relief from menstrual cycles. It is just essential for so many individuals as uh all of us on the call here today recognize.”
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